Ring welt and method of making



Dec. 1, 1936. w G AR 2,062,339

RING WELT AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed April 24, 1935 Fig.1

1 p INVENTOR.

B Magda,

I I ETTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 1, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RING WELT AND METHOD OF MAKING Application April 24, 1935, Serial No. 17,993

6 Claims.

This invention relates to shoe welting and more particularly to shoe welting prepared in a special form for use in the manufacture of completely welted shoes. The welting is especially desirable for shoes having an upper too short to overlast such, for example, as disclosed in my co-pending application for Welting and shoemaking therewith Ser. No. 664,722, and in the co-pending application of Pearl C. Arnold for Welting and shoemaking therewith, Ser. No. 664,- 742, both filed April 6, 1933.

The purpose and the method of manufacture of the welting claimed herein will be best understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, of a fragment of a strand of welting material, preferably grain leather, of the kind disclosed in said Arnold application Ser. No. 664,742 having three separable flaps at one edge;

Fig. 2 is a view, in perspective, of a measured length cut from said strand having each end face-scarfed in accordance with the usual practice in the manufacture of unlimited long welting fillets;

Fig. 3 is a view, in perspective, of the piece shown in Fig. 2 manipulated to form an endless welt for a single shoe upper;

Fig. 4 is a view, in perspective, of a portion of the ring welt of Fig. 3 showing the inner flap broken down to facilitate securing the shoe upper between the other two flaps by stitching;

Fig. 5 is a view, in perspective, of a portion of the ring welt of Fig. 3 showing the outer flap broken down to facilitate cementing the inner faces of the two flaps which embrace the shoe pp Fig. 6 is a view, in cross-section, showing the broken down inner flap as applied to either a ring welt or to a strand of welting;

Fig. 7 is a view, in cross-section, through a ring welt having its inner and outer flaps both broken down for the purposes explained; and

Fig. 8 is a view, in cross-section, of the ring Welt attached to a short shoe upper and having its extension broken back preparatory to assembling with an insole for lasting.

In the following description the manufacture and use of the welting of this invention will, for simplicity, be confined to the processing of grain leather, but it should be distinctly understood that the usefulness of this invention is not limited to leather because any suitable welting material may be processed and used in like manner; nor are dimensions given because they vary greatly with the size and kind of shoe for which the welting is made, The general field of usefulness of the welting includes childrens, growing girls, misses, little gents and boys-shoes; work shoes for all ages; and sport shoes, particularly '5' of the serviceable type.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing a strand of grain leather is slit twice transversely through one edge producing a grain-faced fiap l2, an adjoining or central flesh flap l3 preferably of somewhat lighter weight and a second flesh flap [4 preferably of substantially the weight of the grain-faced flap. The slits are limited in depth leaving an unslit or solid body l that, in the shoe, is outturned from the upper and provides the welt extension. The slits may be made in an unlimited long strand of welting and, if so, the next step is to cut a piece from the strand that, when formed into an endless welt or ring, will neatly fit to the periphery of the short upper at its lower edge.

Accordingly a measured length 20 may be cut from a previously slitted strand substantially equal to the distance around the bottom of the upper for the size of shoe being processed, al- '25 lowing for a lap of the two ends in order to make a strong joint in the ring. It will be understood that, if desired, unslit measured lengths may be obtained in any feasible way and these pieces edge-slit separately to form three flaps. The measured length, however obtained, is oppositely face-scarfed at each end, as at 22 and 24 (Fig. 2) the length of the scarf being such that when lapped to form a ring the measurement for fitting exactly to the upper is retained. The two scarfs are cemented, lapped and pressed producing a tubular ring welt 25 (Fig. 3), that is, tubular in the sense that the axial dimension of the strand forming the ring is greater than the radial dimension thereof, thus distinguishing from ring welts known to the prior art and shown, for example, in Fig. 5 of U. S. patent to Fleming No. 1,150,181, August 17, 1915. It will be observed that the flaps l2, l3 and M are at one end of the short tube formed by the width of the welting strand. The ring is so formed as to leave the grain of a leather strand on the outer or circumferential face of the short tube.

The ring welt thus produced is not my invention and is not claimed herein. Claims to the said ring welt will be found in the application of Pearl C. Arnold Ser. No. 17,987 filed of even date herewith. My invention not only is an improve ment upon the Arnold ring welt butit also is an improvement upon the Arnold welting, slit to produce three edge flaps, disclosed in his said application Ser. No. 664,742 as will be made clear from the following description.

It will be understood from the co-pending applications to which reference has been made that the welting is secured to the short shoe upper by placing the upper between the grain flap l2 and its adjoining flesh flap l3 and then stitching through the flaps and embraced upper. The third flap or lasting allowance flange l4 must be removed from the path of the needle while the seams for securing the upper are being formed. One of my improvements, useful. whether the welting is in a strand or a ring, relates to preparing the welting in such a way that the lasting allowance flange is held out of its natural position in the plane in which the stitch-forming mechanism operates.

This is accomplished by breaking down the outer flap M of Fig. 1 which turns it obliquely downward relatively to the extension [5 (this will be the inner flap 14 in the ring welt of Fig. 3). The flap may be molded or ironed into position close to the extension after breaking over but I prefer tacking it lightly or temporarily to the adjacent face of the welt extension I 5. Any satisfactory temporary form of securement may be employed. One satisfactory method is to spot the lower face of the welt extension with cement as indicated at 26 (Fig. 6) so that after the flap I4 is broken over to an oblique position and then pressed against the cemented extension I 5 it will become separably attached thereto along its former free edge. Now, upon tucking an upper into the slit between the flaps l2 and I3 the combined upper and welt may be laid flat upon the table of a sewing machine and the seams stitched without a special handling of the flap l4, for example as illustrated in said Arnold application Ser. No. 664,742, and without the use of a special table or guide, because it is held out of the path of the needle stroke.

In the practical manufacture of shoes with the edge-slit welting herein described it is desirable that the inner faces of the flaps l2 and I3 which embrace the upper be first cemented. Cement will hold the upper tucked down to the base of the slit and will prevent any change of position while being stitched. Accordingly cement is generally applied, by means of a suitable machine, in the slit between the flaps I 2 and I3 when the welting is used in strand form. I have discovered a characteristic of an endless or ring welt that lends itself most advantageously to perfection of cementing and to the placing of the upper between the flaps. The flap l2, being at the periphery or outer face of the ring or short tube formed by the endless welt will, due to the material contraction of its free edge, inherently be held in a down-turned position adjacent the extension after once being broken over. The inner faces of the grain-faced flap l2 and the adjoining flesh flap l3 are thus exposed and may easily be cemented simultaneously at a single operation. Cementing may be proceeded with on the ring welt the same as on a strand, because it is necessary to break open the outer flap to some extent in order to properly apply the cementing tool, and this facilitates a complete breaking down of the grain flap, as in Fig. 7, after the cement has dried if this step is used preparatory to applying the upper.

Having applied cement to the inner faces of the flaps I2 and 13, the lower margin of the shoe upper is laid against the inner face of the flap l3 with its edge against the shoulder formed by the flap l2 and the flap I2 is then turned back against the grain face of the upper. After pressing there is produced a short upper with an attached ring welt the extension of which, in effect at this stage, adds to the length of the upper.

The combined upper and ring welt are now ready to receive the stitching 30 (Fig. 8) by running through a sewing machine in the manner described in the said application Ser. No. 664,742 or in any other convenient manner.

The upper having been permanently secured between the two flaps l2 and I3 of the welt, the welt is now prepared for lasting by tempering and then breaking the extension I5 outward relatively to the secured upper and by causing the third flap M, or lasting allowance, to stand somewhat inward of the upper (see Fig. 8). Thereafter, upon assembling with an insole upon a last, lasting may be proceeded with substantially as described in said application Ser. No. 664,742 or otherwise as suited to the type of shoe being built.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the broken back and temporarily secured lasting allowance flange is a feature of the welting in either strand or ring form and that either outer flap or both may be broken down on the ring welt; accordingly the welting of this invention is not limited to a conjoint use of all the features herein described; furthermore the feature of breaking down of the flap at the outer face of the tubular ring is advantageous for any edge-slitted welting useful in the manufacture of shoes having a scant upper, for example such as shown in my said application Ser. 664,722.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and certain kinds of welting as prepared for application to a short shoe upper together with the process of producing them having been described, the invention in its true scope is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new, is:-

1. A tubular ring welt for the complete welting of a single shoe characterized by three separable flaps at one margin and having the inner one of the three flaps broken down to lie in an oblique plane relatively to the inner face of the unslit margin.

2. A tubular ring welt for the complete welting of a single shoe characterized by three separable flaps at one margin, having the flap at the inside of the ring broken down and temporarily attached to the inner face of the unslit margin, and having the flap at the outside of the ring broken down to be held by said break oblique to the outer face of the unslit margin.

3. A tubular ring welt characterized by a plurality of separable flaps at one end of the short tube formed by the width of the welting and having its flap at the circumferential face of the tube broken down to an oblique position to expose its inner face and the outer face of the adjoining flap.

4. A tubular ring welt comprising a measured length from a strand of welting having its ends face-lapped and secured and characterized by a plurality of separable edge flaps the outer one of which is broken down to an oblique position from its adjoining flap.

5. A tubular ring welt formed from a measured length of a grain leather welting strand having a plurality of flaps at one margin including a grainfaced flap, and a solid extension integral therewith,'the ends of said length being face-lapped and secured together with the grain presented at the circumferential face of the ring, and said grain-faced flap being broken down to an oblique position to lie adjacent the grain face of the welt extension.

6. Grain leather welting in strand form having one edge slit longitudinally forming three separable flaps at one margin of the strand consisting of an outer flesh flap providing a lasting allowance flange and an inner flesh flap and outer grain faced flap for receiving the lower edge of a shoe upper between them, each flap being integral with the unslit welt extension forming the other margin of the strand, said lasting allowance I 3 flange being broken down about its line of joinder with said extension to lie in an oblique plane relatively to the said extension and thus removed from said other two flaps to enable stitching through said other two flaps and an upper there- 5 WILLIAM C. VIZARD. 

